2024 Round 3 Panthers v Broncos – PENRITH PANTHERS 34 BRISBANE BRONCOS 12. The one-minute match report, giving you the bare minimum in the bare minimum of time.
Penrith took out the Grand Final replay against Brisbane with a very comfortable win at Penrith Stadium on Thursday night.
Penrith scored all six of their tries before the 50th minute without reply. With doubles to Izack Tago and Brian To’o.
The big moment came early in the game where Taylan May and Reece Walsh were involved in a head clash which saw Reece Walsh not return to the field. Although Selwyn Cobbo did a great job at fullback, his absence out wide in defence was highlighted by the Panthers as they punished Brisbane with wave after wave of attack. Taylan May got put on report for the head clash, with the referee advising that May “got a duty of care to bend to make a tackle and he doesn’t bend.”
Broncos eventually got a couple of tries on the board with two tries around the midway point of the second half, but that threat of making a game of it didn’t continue that run and left Penrith to pick up the two competition points.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It was the kind of performance that was more what we have come to expect from the triple reigning premiers, with Nathan Cleary as majestic as ever.
Izack Tago is one of the form centres this season for so many reasons, and the back trio of Dylan Edwards, Brian To’o and Sunia Turuva are just unbeatable and they give their forwards plenty of breaks with constant and effective hit ups.
Taylan May being put on report for a headache was a joke. We don’t want the NRL to follow in the footsteps in UK Super League. In saying all that Selwyn Cobbo was great at fullback.
The form of Penrith is a worry for the other 16 teams, who were good but looked like more to come.
Broncos were unlucky with injuries for this match, but it’s not as if they have been world beaters this season so far. They only beat Souths last start, but did miss Adam Reynolds and Payne Haas here, plus Reece Walsh early in the game. At least it meant that exciting young gun Xavier Willison got more of a go.
Courtesy of nrl.com
Of the 26 Grand Final rematches since 1999, 13 reigning premiers have now won and 13 have lost the first match after the Grand Final in the next season. Penrith’s record is now W4 L1, and Brisbane are W1 L4.
Since 2019 Penrith has now won 9 of 10 home games v Qld sides. Their only loss was in Round 1 last season v Broncos.
Broncos made fewer errors than the Panthers.
This game saw Dylan Edwards pass 300 running metres in a match for the fifth time since 2022.
Brian To’0 (111) and Dylan Edwards (106) both cleared 100 Post Contact Metres in this match. The third best was Matthew Eisenhuth on 58 metres.
That’s eight line breaks for Izack Tago this season, which four ahead of the next best.
Ezra Mam is now on top for missed and ineffective tackles.
